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Corvette brings strong history to IMSA season’s only GT-only race
DETROIT (August 21, 2024) –Three of the first-year Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs are set for Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute sprint race: Nos. 3 (Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims) and 4 (Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg) for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in GTD PRO plus AWA’s No. 13 GTD entry (Orey Fidani and Matt Bell).
The trio of Z06 GT3.Rs will look to continue Corvette Racing’s incredibly strong history at the 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course that sits on the Virginia-North Carolina border.
Corvettes have made a habit of being at the front and – more often than not – winning at Virginia International Raceway. The program’s IMSA factory team has won six times at the circuit since 2012, and DXDT Racing swept both rounds of GT World Challenge America there earlier this year with Milner, a Virginia native.
He ranks second in IMSA VIR wins among active drivers with three. The only driver with more is Garcia with four, including last year with Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette C8.R. In addition, Sims (2018 GTLM) and Bell (2020 IMSA Prototype Challenge) have one VIR victory to their credit. Meanwhile, Fidani is set for his first WeatherTech Championship start at VIR, and Catsburg will make his debut at the circuit.
A victory this weekend by either Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports or AWA would give the Z06 GT3.R its second (or third in the event of a sweep) IMSA win this year. The GTD PRO effort also is on a streak of two consecutive pole positions and four in the last five races, a strong showing for the first-year Corvette.
In GTD, AWA is coming off a season-best, fifth-place finish the last time out at Road America. A repeat – or besting that result – at VIR would solidify Fidani’s lead in the Bob Akin Award standings, with the highest points-scoring Bronze driver at the end of the year earning an automatic entry to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 25. The race will air live on USA starting at noon ET with live streaming on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday afternoon’s opening practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.
Article by:
Ryan Smith
678.316.1880
ryan2uga@gmail.com
Judy Kouba Dominick
317.408.1049
judy.dominick@
insidetrackcomms.com
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